Who Will Be The Future Yankee Backstop? @Lonsksk

The Yankees enter 2022 with a massive question mark behind the plate. Will Gary Sánchez return? Will Kyle Higashioka step into an everyday role? Or will they look outside the organization to replace the catching position. Below are my top 5 candidates to do the everyday catching next season in the Bronx. 

Carson Kelly:

The Arizona Diamondbacks backstop is coming off of a very solid season. He hit .240, 13 homers, knocked in 46 RBIs, and posted a 2.2 WAR in only 98 games and 359 PA (all according to Baseball Reference). The allure to Kelly comes with his solid defense and youth. Kelly being only 26 years old makes him a prime candidate to be the next Yankee catcher for many years to come.

Jacob Stallings:

Stallings is coming off of a Gold Glove season in 2021 and is a prime candidate to be moved this off-season by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Stallings, whilst not known for his offense, had a solid year offensively batting .246, hitting 8 homers, knocking in 53 RBIs, and posting a 3.0 WAR. These offensive numbers obviously leave some room for improvement, but what Stallings lacks in offense, he makes up for in his gold glove caliber defense. Stallings is going into his age 32 season so you’d also think his price tag might also not be as high as some of the younger players listed.

Mitch Garver:

Garver is coming off of a disappointing 2021, where he saw his PA’s diminish greatly and became a platoon like player. Garver’s potential is visible and you can see from his 2019 season, where he hit 31 homers and knocked in 67 RBIs, that the potential for a great catcher is there. Garver is known to be available with the Twins looking to retool their roster and I believe that the Yankees should take a serious look at Garver. He offers the offensive production of a Gary Sánchez, but is an above average pitch framer and blocker behind the dish.

Kyle Higashioka:

With the departure (for now) of Brett Gardner, Higgy is now the longest tenured Yankee player (on an organizational level). He entered 2021 as a straight platoon option with Gary Sánchez as the presumed starter. Higgy would become the starter after Sánchez’s struggles early in the season, but then lose the starting job to Gary again by season’s end. Higgy was Gerrit Cole’s personal catcher again for the 2021 season (a debate to have in a different article) and seems to be a favorite of the pitching staff to throw too. Higgy finished 2021 with an awful .181 BA, 10 homers, 29 RBIs, and 0.4 WAR in 211 PA. These stats are deceiving due to the inconsistency of Higgy’s ABs and the Yankees may be looking to go with a little cheaper and in house option behind the plate due to having to spend in so many other places to upgrade the team.

Gary Sánchez: 

After an awful 2020, Gary came back in 2021 to being a respectable batter at the plate, but a below average defender behind it. Gary hit .204, 23 homers, knocked in 54 RBIs, and had a 0.7 WAR. These are by no means eye popping numbers, but after an abysmal 2020 you could see the obvious improvements made by Sánchez at the plate. Gary’s defense in regards to pitch blocking and throwing runners out (which was surprising due to his incredible arm strength) was well below average behind home plate. Where Gary did excell was at pitch framing, after a full year of his one knee down approach he was able to become an above average pitch framer and that’s something that is very useful in today’s game. 

My prediction:

I believe that the Yankees will look to acquire Mitch Garver from the Minnesota Twins during this off-season. They will try to buy cheap in a commodity that has shown the ability to be an above average hitter and is still a very good defender behind the dish. If the asking price from Minnesota is above what they believe to be fair, I’d look to Kyle Higashioka to become the everyday catcher for the Yankees. I believe they will deal Gary Sánchez due to not wanting to pay him the $8+ million salary he will get via arbitration. The asking price for Kelly and Stallings might be high for different reasons. Kelly is only 26 and is still improving as a batter and defender. Stallings is coming off of a Gold Glove winning season and his price tag will never be higher then it is right now, and going into his age 32 season I don’t think Cashman or the Yankees will want to give up anything significant for him.